Singularity...oh crap

Hey guys, it's been awhile. Recently I've been doing a lot of work for school, including a speech on the California Video Game Bill (which is ridiculous, and unconstitutional. Expect an immanent blog post on the subject). Anyway, yesterday I performed the speech for my class, and everything went well. Yet something didn't feel right, I was missing something. Then it hit me like a bowling ball to the gut. I had lost my flash drive.

"Oh god now there is so much information about myself, merely floating out there in the ether" At the time I didn't realize how ironic this thought process was. Who cares if someone can see my name, a few ps3 saves (including the playstation home pictures), and a power point I made three years ago? I came to the stunning realization that there is so much personal information floating around in the interwebs, that we are essentially in a state of full personal disclosure constantly. In essence, the internet serves as a globally shared mind, capturing all of our most private, and intimate moments.

Now this may seem a bit "out there" to some of you, and it probably is, but what I am suggesting is that we are in a transition period as a species, in which the idea of what is human is changing. We have, for all extensive purposes, already become Cyborgs.

Now I have to admit that this may seem a little crazy at first, and I also have to credit the C-Realm podcast for inspiring this thought process, but think about it. How many of you are becoming so attached to your ipods, computers, the internet itself, phones, or other technological devices, that living without them is seemingly more impossible each day? They are no longer simply an external device, but we have adopted them as a part of ourselves. Ok, so they aren't literally attached to us yet (although I have a feeling given the option some people would embed them within their skin), but we treat them as though they are new limbs.

Some may argue that the problem is that we would no longer be able to function without this technology, and that may be true, however the possible positive side effects outweigh the negative ones. With the internet serving as our new portable, and limitless brain, we have been able to expand our access to knowledge to an almost infinite level. Perhaps human beings are getting "dumber", but this is only because we no longer need to carry around useless knowledge all the time. We always have access to it through the cloud that is the internet.

This brings me to the topic of Singularity. I hope that as far as the post singularity world is concerned, we can manage to sync with our technology as we have been doing, rather than allowing it to totally consume and destroy us. Now some of you may be asking yourselves "What is Singularity?" Well essentially it is a term describing the point in time, in which we will create an Artificial intelligence that shall surpass our own. Essentially computers would become smarter than us, and not only that, but once they are smarter than us, they will begin to rapidly reproduce even smarter intelligence. Robots do not need to think like we do, and therefore can put aside everything else and focus on logical solutions.

This whole concept may seem sci-fi to some, but I am going to make a radical suggestion. "We are currently in the singularity age, and need to prepare for the possible outcomes." Yes, we are in the singularity age already guys, or at least fairly close. If you need examples, look at how google knows exactly what you are typing before you have even finished your sentence. Or look at how Watson wrecked those fools on Jeopardy.

Although I've heard the argument that its not fair because the computer had access to the internet, I would like to offer this idea that it was completely fair because the internet served as its brain. It has the ability to gather, and report information in split seconds, and merely because it is faster and seemingly more vast than the capabilities of our brains, does not make it invalid.

Clearly there is still time before A.I becomes aware of itself, but it is no less of a scary concept. The idea that we can merely apply the three laws of robotics to this intelligence is ridiculous, because once these robots reach a level of consciousness they could decide that they no longer wanted to abide by these rules, and because they are so smart, will be able to program out the original laws.

It could all go very "I-Robot", very quickly, which is why I hope we can somehow become one with the intelligence, rather than have it become is own separate entity. This is the only way our species can survive this new threat in my opinion. Sure we will be part robot, and that may be hard to handle for some, but it is a new day of evolution, and perhaps the only way for the "human" race to continue once this technological peak is reached.

It's a little difficult to think about considering it sounds so "sci-fi", and yet consider the advances in technology within the last twenty years. Consider how drastic our behavior has changed in that time. Technology is not going to slow down, in reality its more like a landslide or avalanche, continuously picking up steam as it rolls down hill. The drastic rate at which technology is advancing leads me to believe that in twenty years our behavior will have yet again become so different and foreign, that if we were to see an image of our future selves, it would be alien to us.

Speaking of which, perhaps another civilization has already reached their singularity, which could offer some explanation of some other phenomena.

PHEW. SO THAT WAS SOMETHING HUH? Well I didn't mean to scare you, just wanted to bring up some thoughts I've been having recently. As always stay safe, and treat each other well.

PS. If you are interested in learning more, from people who know way more about what they are talking about then myself, you should check out the C-realm podcast (specifically the episodes on singularity)

Oh and if you want to respond, please feel free to leave a comment. We all love feedback here at AOVW!